Cheerio old chap

Tower Bridge

Clockwise from top left: Piccadilly Cirucs; Big Ben; Tower Bridge

Clockwise from top left: Portobello Road; The Gherkin; St Pauls Catherdral

We never meant to get this involved.

It was never supposed to be a serious thing.

We told ourselves that it would be no strings attached – that we could walk away at any moment and nobody would need to get hurt.

But gradually, moment by moment, day by day, our connection grew deeper and deeper. We slowly got to know each other, grew to like each other, and before we knew it, we were in way too deep.

We arrived in London with a plan to get a job, work for 6 months and then head home. Six months soon became a year, and a year became two. And now, exactly two-and-half-years to the day after we left Australia, we are heading home.

Living in London has been an incredible experience. We’ve enjoyed a huge amount of freedom and done our best to explore every corner of the city…so much so that we’ve seen more of the city than many Londoners. There are too many highlights to detail here, but if we had to sum it all up, it would be having the time to scratch below the surface and appreciate the true rhythm and pulse of the city – a deeper understanding and intimacy that we hope will stay with us forever.

Preparing to leave London, wrap up our adventures and move home has caught both of us off guard and left us trying to make sense of a gamut of emotions. On the one hand, we can’t wait to get home and reconnect with our family and friends and fill the gaping void that we have felt for so much of the past couple of years. On the other, it feels genuinely strange to be ending this chapter of our lives – one in which we have experienced and achieved more than either of us ever dreamt or thought possible,

At this very point in time, we’re struggling to reconcile and make sense of the two sides of this coin; the new page that we are about to turn still feels quite fuzzy, ill-defined and uncertain. In time we trust that it will all make sense, but right at this very moment, it’s a tad unsettling.  

So, thanks to everyone for your love and support. Thanks to everyone back home for always having our back, and thanks to everyone in London for your incredible friendship. Oh, and thanks to everyone who has visited this blog. We never imagined that it would go on for as long as it has…we’ve had heaps of fun doing it, and we hope you’ve enjoyed perusing.

And London, you’ve stolen a huge chuck of our hearts that we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to replace, but this is goodbye….for now.

Toodlepip Notting Hill

All of these photos were taken from the window of our fourth floor studio flat overlooking Notting Hill

Last weekend we packed up and moved out of our studio in Notting Hill. It had been coming down the road at us for a while, marking the final countdown to finishing work before moving home to Australia.

Living in Notting Hill was a privilege that we’ll never take for granted – being literally a stone’s throw from the heart of Portobello Road market was a joy that gave us a little tingle down the spine every time we stepped out our front door.

With that said, it wasn’t all peachy. Our flat certainly had a few quirks…a few selected highlights included the coin operated electricity meter that the land lady could arbitrarily adjust at her leisure; no hot running water out of the taps meaning that we had to boil the kettle to wash the dishes; an electric toilet that would grumble and spurt water up out of the bathroom sink day and night when other residents used their plumbing; the flat being so old and wonky (allegedly from World War II bombing damage) that we almost needed to don hiking boots to traverse the slope from one side of the studio to the other; and a bathroom that was so small that the shower door couldn’t be fully opened because it hit the toilet.  

But with all that, we loved it. We made it our own and will never forget our time there. We will definitely miss our little routine of strolling down the ‘bello on Saturday morning to buy fresh veggies from the market before settling in at our favourite coffee shop.

Oh, and after 19 months of living in Notting Hill, we never did get around to looking for the Blue Door from the film, and only discovered the book shop yesterday by accident. Oh well…maybe next time. 

New York to Old York

The Twistleton Scar

Clockwise from top left: Fountains Abbey; A brief break in the rain; Fountains Abbey

Rain in the Dales

Clockwise from top left: Monique exploring Fountains Abbey; Daniel making the most of his gumboots; Enjoying the mud

 Snow in the Dales

 Views of the Dales

As a bit of a last blast we decided to do a weekend getaway up to the Yorkshire Dales. This had been on the agenda for some time, but it was only thanks to Monique watching the train fares like a hawk that we were able to get affordable tickets.

Exploring the English countryside proved to be a lovely way to round off our adventures before launching into a solid three weeks of packing up our lives in London and preparing to move home to Australia.

Oh, and celebrating Daniel’s 30^th birthday.

The weather was classically English…wet, windy, and generally fairly miserable. This provided a lovely setting for some leisurely rambles through the countryside, relaxing in tearooms and pubs, and exploring some beautiful National Trust properties. The dramatic ruins and sprawling gardens of the UNESCO- listed Fountains Abbey was definitely a highlight.

As for Daniel’s birthday, we couldn’t have asked for better weather, being lucky enough to have a snowstorm for most of the morning. This provided for some stunning views, and a few slippery moments as we attempted to cross across the top of the Dales in our hire car. It was a sensational day, and certainly the first time that we had experienced snow on Australia day. 

Battersea Power Station

We were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the Battersea Power Station as a part of the London Open Doors weekend.

We (along with everyone else in London) thought it would be prudent to get there early to avoid the queues. By ‘early’, we thought an hour or so before the doors were due to open would well and truly do the trick.

No quite.

It soon became apparent the thousands and thousands of people had the same idea. We walked and walked and walked and walked before finally finding the end of the queue…about a kilometer back down the road.

After waiting patiently in the early Autumn cold for over two and half hours, we finally made our way inside. 

Thankfully, it was worth the wait. The iconic London landmark is due to begin being redeveloped, so we were lucky to see it in all its decayed and derelict glory. While it is hard to tell form the outside, it is essentially just a shell with no roof and no internal walls, just crumbling concrete and jagged metal supporting beams remaining.

While it sounds strange, it really is a stunning landmark.

On our way out, we walked past a lot of angry people who had been denied entry. After planning for 10,000 and not expecting the 20,000 that actually showed up, the Power Station closed two hours earlier than planned. Again, we were feeling very fortunate to have got there when we did.  

Fun times with the parents...The Cotswolds

Clockwise from top left: Highclere Castle; The Uffington White Horse; Rambling

A special father-son moment 

Rambling on classically damp English morning 

Clockwise from top left: Arlington Row; a country lane; Snowshill

We were incredibly excited to have Daniel’s parents come and visit London for three weeks in September. Aside from walking their feet off seeing all the sights in London, we decided that it would be a bit of fun to enjoy a quintessentially English getaway and spend four days relaxing in the Cotswolds.

It was wonderful to be able to spend some quality time together after about two years of living on the opposite side of the globe, and the Cotswolds provided the perfect setting.

A few highlights included…

> Pubs and tea rooms aplenty

> Some long and rambling walks through the countryside

> Exploring Highclere Castle, which is the location used for shooting Downton Abbey

> Marveling at the Uffington White Horse – an Iron Age outline of a horse made created by deep trenches filled with chalk

> Exploring the many quaint little villages
> Daniel treating Arthur to his first ever beer…a true father-son rite of passage.

Notting Hill Carnival MKII

For the second year in a row, the world’s second largest street carnival exploded to life right outside our front door. Over the course of the August bank holiday long weekend, over a million people descended on the quiet leafy streets of Notting Hill and turned the suburb into a massive, pulsating, chaotic mess of drinking, dancing, partying, and revelry.

And just like last year, it was oh so good.  

The masculine and the feminine…Wilderness cricket and felting

One of Daniel's sixes

Daniel was fortunate to be able to play in the cricket match. The festival supplied whites for all the players, cucumber sandwiches and Pimms for afternoon tea, a hilariously pompous British commentator, and a good number of streakers to keep things interesting. It’s fair to say that the play was of a ‘social’ standard, given the number of players who were feeling slightly worse for wear from the previous evenings revelry, and the fact that more players than not were fielding with a can in hand.

Still, Daniel took great delight in walking out to bat in front of the several hundred spectators (in Daniels mind it was several thousand, however Monique thinks it was probably a tad less) and launching four sixes into the crowd on his way to 26 retired (lets not let the miniscule size of the ground, drunk bowlers and children playing get in the way of good story). Raising the bat to the adoring masses on the way back to the pavilion was certainly a career highlight.   

When Daniel and Shaun had finished batting and the Pimms had run dry, Monique and Sam left the boys to it and headed off to do some wet-felting. This involved placing fleece fibers on bubble wrap and agitating it with warm soapy water for what felt like three straight hours. It seemed like awfully hard work for a relaxing weekend, but after having returned a second time the following day to finish the job, Monique and Sam now have very interesting looking felt book covers…now the only question that remains is what the heck to do with them?!?

Jabberwocky

Clockwise from top left: The brave Knight; The baby Jubjub bird; The Bandersnatch munching the noble Squire

We ummed and ahhed about which theatre production to see while we were at Wilderness, before deciding to embark on the magical quest to slay the Jabberwocky.  

Based on Lewis Carroll’s classic poem, we journeyed through ancient woodland encountering theatre, poetry, music, and stunning puppetry as we followed a brave Knight and his Squire on their quest to find and then slay the Jabberwocky to ultimately win a princess’s heart.

It was wonderfully funny and highly entertaining, the sets and props were enchanting, the puppets were simply brilliant, and the actors incredibly engaging.

Five stars.  

Wonderfully Whimsical Wilderness: a review

Top left to bottom right: Some young musicians; Rodriguez; Relaxing in the hot tub; Les Pepones French Trapeze show; Fairy floss is more exciting than cricket; a feather in the crowd; The Wilderness lake; Masquerade Ball; Relaxing on the hill; Luke Sital-SIngh; So many things to do; Monique and Sam felting

The Wilderness Festival was not only the best festival we have ever been to, it is without doubt the best event.

Described as a ‘pastoral paradise of inspiration, entertainments and tranquility…a four-day feast of arcadian arts, communal encounters, dazzling discourse, restorative rituals, and after-dark escapades’….Wilderness not only lived up to this lofty description, it comfortably surpassed it.

Wilderness offers something for everyone…a sensational lineup of bands, a diverse array of theatre productions and interactive performances, a wide collection of arts and crafts, communal banqueting, cooking classes, talks and debates, wild archery, relaxing lake-side hot tubs, vintage cricket and croquet, French trapeze artists, late-night revelry featuring masquerade balls, and swing dancing performances…and a whole lot more, all set in the idyllic green fields of the Cotswolds. It is hard to imagine a more perfect location to complement the festival’s whimsical vibes.  

For us, a few personal highlights included the Jabberwocky woodland theatre production, the cricket match, felting (more on these later), and seeing the now legendary Rodriguez.

For those that don’t know his story, the Detroit-based singer songwriter released two albums in 1970 and 1971 respectively which flopped in the USA but somehow got huge in South Africa without him knowing. To cut a long story short, 20 odd years later after thinking he was dead, a few South Africans tracked him down and told him that he was bigger than Elvis, and that his music had been the soundtrack to a generation. Meanwhile, he had been living a life of relative poverty as a labourer. It’s an amazing story. He’s now 71, vision-impaired and incredibly frail. While we certainly can’t lay claim to being authentic die-hard fans, it was an incredible privilege to see him perform.

Blown away in Brighton

The West Pier 

Clockwise from top left: the Ferris wheel; a roller coaster on the pier; the pebble beach with the West Pier in the backgorund

One of the things that had been sitting on our to-do list was to check out Brighton. We had been trying to do a weekend away with Sam and Shaun for a while, and after much attempted planning, we ended picking Brighton on a weekend that coincided with Monique’s birthday.

We headed down on the train on the Friday night after work and then spent the weekend exploring the quaint lanes, the pebble beach, the teas rooms and pubs, and of course the fairground on the pier.

Brighton is an interesting place. On the one hand it is quite quaint and pretty, on the other, just slightly rough around the edges and in need of a coat of paint.

Perhaps the defining feature of the weekend was the extraordinary wind that was blowing in off the ocean. We can’t think of ever experiencing a stronger one. Watching Monique and Sam trying to convince themselves that it was ice cream weather in gale-force wind was amusing. And messy. 

Daniel's lifetime dream fulfilled...

Off the legs for a couple

I fell in love with cricket while watching David Boon craft out a solid 64 on 12^th January 1993 in a one dayer against the Pakistan in the Benson & Hedges one day series match.

  

Pretty much ever since this moment, cricket has been an obsession of mine where I soon started dreaming of playing in England. Something to do with the romantic notion of idyllic English village greens surrounded by white picket fences, with the cricket being played in a truly gentlemanly fashion always made the idea seem so alluring.

Trooping the Colour - The Colonel's Review

Following the excitement of last year’s Trooping the Colour, we decided to get in early this year and enter the ballot for the official ceremony at the Horse Guards Parade. This involved composing a hand written letter to the Brigade Major, popping it in the post in February, and then waiting patiently for a reply.

Very old school.

After a week or so of keeping an eye on the post, we received our tickets. Upon initial inspection, we were a tad concerned that Daniel was going to have to wear a full Morning Suit – three piece suit with tales and top hat – but fortunately the fine print revealed that trousers and a jacket would suffice.

Phew.

The big day arrived, and thankfully given the outdoor seating, the rain looked like staying away. We arrived at the Horse Guards Parade and went through the most thorough bag search of all time – the security guard literally went so far as to open Monique’s purse and search each little pocket.

The parade itself was well worth the effort of writing a letter. The whole idea of ‘military precision’ takes on a whole new meaning when watching a few hundred soldiers and their horses all moving in perfect time and unity without so much as a hair out of place for a couple of hours.

While if you stopped for too long to reflect on how relevant all the pomp, ceremony and funny outfits are in today’s world it would be easy to come up scratching your head. But ignoring that, it was heaps of fun, highly entertaining, and a great experience to be a part of.

Enough food for everyone IF...

A field of 250,000 flowers planted in Hyde Park. 

Each petal represents a child that died last year due to malnutrition

The world produces enough food for everyone, but not everyone has enough food.

On Saturday we had the privilege of joining 48,000 people in Hyde Park to support the IF campaign. The purpose was simple – raise awareness of the human tragedy of global hunger, and demand that world leaders take steps to fix the broken structures of the global food system.

Events like this really put life into perspective. Our worldviews can shrink so quickly.

Gosh, I hope we can find some cheap tickets for our next holiday...

What new restaurant are we going to try this weekend?

I’m so sick of my Blackberry.

Our online groceries haven’t been delivered in time so we can’t have pudding tonight.

London with a birds Eye view...

Clockwise from top left: View from the London Eye; Big Ben; Another view from the London Eye

Following our day trip to Oxford, we spent the rest of the long weekend...

> enjoying the London sun. Quite miraculously, the sun stayed out and gave us a glorious 18 degrees for three days straight....amazing!

> Rode our bikes to Hyde Park for a picnic and a snooze

> Ticked the London Eye off our to-do list.

A study of Oxford

Clockwise from top left: inside Jesus College; the exterior of Christ Church College; Jesus College again

Clockwise from top left: Exeter College Chapel; Christ Church College dining hall; Divinity School ceiling

Clockwise from top left: Trinity College garden; our good friend who had one too many; Summer Eights rowing

Despite Monique spending many long hours scouring the interweb for cheap flights for the second long weekend in May, we ended up drawing a blank. While this was a tad disappointing, we decided that a jam packed day trip to Oxford would be just as much fun.

We were right!

We caught an 8am bus that had us there by 9:45, perfectly in time to grab a coffee before embarking on a town walking tour. Oxford is a really beautiful town, and it was fascinating learning about it, the colleges, and the many famous people who had studied there.

It was quite amazing

HTB Leadership Conference

 Clockwise from top left: Caught in the wind and rain; We lost count of the number of compliments that Monique received for her colour coordinated outfit; the Royal Albert Hall

Inside the Royal Albert Hall

One of the absolute highlights of our time in London so far was being lucky enough to attend the HTB Leadership Conference. We had wanted to attend last year, but being relatively new to the church, we didn’t get organized in time. Following the success and popularity of last year’s conference, this years tickets sold out while we were back in Australia, and so we missed out. We were pretty disappointed.

Until….

Spring is in the air

View from our Notting Hill flat after a spring rainstorm  

Highgate Cemetery 

Inspirational London Marathon runners; Our new old bikes

Finally, after the longest and coldest winter in 50 years, spring is starting to descend on London. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and the British are lying in parks with their tops off.

What a relief.

Over the years we have heard people talk about getting a bit down in the dumps towards the end of a long London winter. We’d always thought that such types would be well served by swallowing a block of concrete and hardening up.

We need to eat a good dose of humble pie on that front. Had the cold lasted a day longer, we would have caught a flight home.

To celebrate the return of double-digit temperatures,